The Hawaiian gazette., 1887-08-02
. a Nineteenth Century Pirate.


.Scombers and other questionable
characters who infested the South
Pacific. A few instances of this
worthy's escapades in the paths of
fraud and villainy, drawn from Coral
Lands, by III. s. Cooper Iondon R.
1entley & SOM, may be of interest,
and will also show how, up to com
paratively recent period, deter
mined character could pursue ca
reer of actual crime and piracy in the
Eastern seas with impunity.
Of the antecedents of Captain Tor
Bully as he was commonly dubbed)
Hayes, little is known before 1858,
when he appeared in the Hawaiian
Islands, having landed from the ship
Orestes. After short stay at Homo
lulu he left for San Francisco in the
Rbeginning of 1859; and few months
afterwards reappearing in command
of a brig bound for New Caledonia.
Having entered closed port without
having first passed the custom-house,
the sheriff arrested him and took pos
session of the brig. Captain Hayes
put all the blame on his first officer,
and was virtuously indignant with
:. him for misinforming him as to the
necessity of first entering at the Gus
tom-house at Lahaina, at the same
time treating the sheriff with IN
/ bounded courtesy and every mark of
respect. He at once agreed to pro-
ID to Lahaina, and seemed de-
lighted to find it was the sheriff's
duty to accompany him thither. When
however, the ship was clear of the
6sand, Hayes changed his tune and
coolly informed the sheriff he had no
intention of going near the custom
house. and that he (the sheriff J could
either remain on board and pay for
his passage to New Caledonia, or find
his way back to port the best way he
could. The sheriff found himself
completely outwitted, and was per
force obliged to take to his small
boat = luckily, still alongside-and
managed to reach the land with con-
siderable difficulty, having the melan-
choly satisfaction of seeing his late
prisoner laughing at him over the
taffrail as he resumed his course for
the Southern Ocean. Next mail
brought instructions to the U. S. Con
sui at Honolulu for Hayes arrest;
and it then become known that when
last in the islands he had borrowed
money from a confding clergyman,
with which be had gone to San Fran
cisco and negotiated the purchase of
the brig, fitted her out, engaged his
crew and then set sail, paying nobody.
His cruise at this time, however, did
not last very long; shortly afterwards,
his ship was wrecked at Wallace's
Island, the captain and his 'chums'
escaping in the boat to Navigators'
Islands, leaving the rest of the crew
to their fate They ultimately, how
A ger, succeeded in getting safe to
Shore by means of a raft.
Hayes was next heard of at Bata
via in command of a bark; how oh
tanned is not known. He succeeded
in getting a cargo of coffee for Eu-
rope-which it would never have
4 seen-when the Dutch East India
accompany got some information as to
his antecedents, and were only too
glad to get repossession of their cot
fee, losing the charter-money, which
Hayes insisted on being paid before he
allowed the cargo to be taken on shore
again. Finding he had not much
chance of doing any gocd-or evil,
rather-at Batavia, Hayes resolved
to depart in search of a fresh field
for the exercise of his talents. Pro
ceeding to Hongkong, he succeeded
in filling his vessel with Chinese
coolies, and sailed for Melbourne.
After fair voyage, he was nearing
the Australian coast, when he spoke
a ship. and was informed that tax
had been imposed on all Chinese i'm
migrants, and that he would have to
pay fifty dollars per head on his pas
sengers before he would be permitted
to land them. This was rather a
serious outlook for the captain, but,
as usual, his inventive brain was
equal to the occasion. He sailed
calmly on, and soon arrived off his
port of destination. Then he set to
work to carry out the plan he had
.conceived. He coolly filed his ship
half-full of water, hoisted signals of
distress, and lay to, waiting the de
velopement of his ruse. He had not
long to wait; his signals for assis-
tance were perceived, and two tug
steamers were soon alongside, proffer-
Org their services for the purpose of
towing him into port. Hayes de-
clared his ship would sink before she
could be got into dock, as his pumps
were choked and the water rising at
great rate. He implored them to
take off his passengers, leaving his
crew and himself to escape by means
of THERE boats, should the bark not
float till they returned This the
tug-owners agreed to do. The Chi
namen We're trans-shipped, and the
steamers bore off, promising to return